November 9th to 13th
From Medan it’s less than a one hour flight across the strait to Georgetown, (Penang), moving from Indonesia to Malaysia. In cultural terms, however, they seem to be a world apart. Penang is a cultural meltingpot – originally founded by the British, with major Chinese influences, dotted with Buddhist temples, churches and mosques. These are all jumbled together in a compact setting with modern high rises sitting next to colonial era buildings, run down tenement blocks and gaudy mansions.
One thing that’s immediately noticeable is that things are much more orderly in Penang. Take driving, for instance. In Indonesia the white line in the middle of the road is a negotiable thing – you can easily fit at least two lanes of traffic on either side of it, and which side you drive on is dependent on mood and temperament. In Penang everyone stays in a single lane on their own side of the road. If you step in front of a car in Indonesia it goes around you: in Penang it’ll probably mow you down. And yet there are still people who are obviously very poor.
In Penang people are less smiley, a bit more impatient and more given to self-expression – in Indonesia and the Philippines there wasn’t much evidence of people focusing on their appearance, but in Penang there certainly was – more tattoos, more jewellery, more fashion. There were even a couple of Ferraris, for no obvious reason (there never is). It feels richer, but less sociable – which is not to say people aren’t helpful, they are, but there’s just a slightly more rushed edge to it.
We stayed in a one star homestay, which was marvellous – the Vintage House. A bit noisy, but situated in the middle of Georgetown and with everything we needed, including a veranda from which we could observe the locals going about their business. What we mainly observed were tourists wandering up and down looking at the their phones – lots of Westerners and even more Chinese.
Georgetown packs a lot into a small space – we used buses or walked everywhere, no need to use taxis. We wandered down the clan jetties, set up by Chinese clans at the end of the nineteenth and early twentieth century, some of which are open to the public, and are effectively little floating towns projecting out into the bay.
We went to Pinang Peranakan, now a museum, but essentially the biggest load of bling you’ll ever see, originally the home of one of the most successful Chinese businessmen from early in the last century. Utterly mad, with not much information, but something to behold.
We also took a trip out to Penang Hill, where the colonial administrators used to go when it got hot in the summer. The modern train up the hill is a lot more efficient than the old one used to be, but the top of the hill is now largely a tourist trap with everything attracting a further fee to maximise income. It was the most disappointing thing we did during our visit although to be fair the views would have been spectacular (and free) had we not chosen the cloudiest day of our travels so far. The funicular to get the top is a necessary triumph as there are not many roads up the hill to get to the bungalows. First built in the 1800’s it has been through three major updates thankfully and is smooth and quick. The queuing system is a little less delightful – imagine a mix between the Disney queuing system and Covent Garden tube. Photos were attempted from the funicular to capture a taste of the ascent – but mostly were of people’s heads so discarded. The bungalows, Convalescent bungalow being the oldest, built in 1803 by the British for their leisure time and then by wealthy businessman, still exist. Some are well maintained owning fantastic views and cool breezes but many are repurposed for community use, education or are in disrepair. To be frank, we were glad to get down, after the thirty minute queue.
Naturally we took in some temples – in particular Chaiya Mangalaram Thai Buddhist temple, the home of the enormous reclining Buddha, and Dhammikarama opposite it, the first Burmese Bhuddist temple outside of Burma, complete with an up to date version of the story of Buddha that we saw carved into Borobodur, back in Yogyakarta. Although the land that both temples are on has been for worship nearly since Penang was founded in 1786 – in the case of Dhammikarama it was purchased for 390 spanish dollars in 1803 – the current buildings are newer having been remodelled in the 1970’s and 80’s. They use a lot of gold leaf and one way to support both places is to buy small squares and glue to the buddha’s directly.
In between times we ate a wide range of places – Nikki heading off into the most dodgy of food courts at the slightest opportunity, with me trailing in her wake, looking mournfully at the dishes of pig’s stomach, fish heads and smacked cucumbers (no idea). Although, frankly, only her choice of breakfast joint on day 1 was off-putting, on account of the co-location of the food preparation area and the loo…
In my defence I would say that the local food we ate was far more interesting and tasty. Especially the stirfried squid, prawn and oyster served on an omelette type base – Nikki
Penang has a lot of street art (which became a bit of an obsessions for Nikki as you have to work to find them – they are not all together!). The trend was started officially in the 1970’s when the Penang council employed a Latvian (?!) artist to produce appealing art. Appealing it was and thousands of instagrams moments have been and are still being captured. Many of these original artworks are now faded and a little worse for wear but others have continued the trend (not sure they are all official).
Lazy Sunday was spent sitting in the Hin Street Bus Depot – now converted into a market and performance area. The gin was good and Nikki found contraband beer for m ebeing sold surreptitiously from a cool box, the ambience was fabulous and the music good. The stand-up comedian less so. Given our lack of Malay, many (all) jokes were lost in translation.
In the middle of all this Deepavali was also happening in Penang’s Little India. As far as I can tell this involved playing lots of very loud music and setting lots of firecrackers off randomly. The vibrant stalls and fantastic food in the area shouldn’t be missed (Woodlands was amazing for vegetarian Indian food), although it is probably almost as colourful outside of the festival season.
The whole thing just added to the sense that Penang is a place where cultures merge – Malaysian, Chinese, Indian, Indonesian and British. As this is our only stop in Malaysia I can’t really compare the country to the others we’ve visited but I’m pretty sure Penang isn’t representative of the rest of Malaysia. However, it is a fantastic appetiser and if you’re in the region it really should be visited.
– Tim